Tamil poet Gnanakoothan, who lampooned the foibles of Tamil society and politics in scathing verse, died here on Thursday. He was 78 and is survived by his wife and two sons.
Though he had a strong foundation in Tamil classical literature, including Sangam poetry, Kamba Ramayanam and Bhakti poetry, and had studied the Bhagavad Gita and Kalidasa’s work in Sanskrit, he opted to write in free verse, after experimenting with longer poems.
He questioned the genuineness of the Dravidian Movement’s concern for Tamil language, and was critical of its rhetoric. He even declared that the movement’s approach towards Tamil literature was no different from that of the British.
“They are responsible for Tamils losing respect for their language,” he would say. He responded disdainfully to some Dravidian leaders’ common refrain ‘Tamil engal moochu’ (‘Tamil is our breath’) by writing: “Enakkum Tamilthaan moochu; aanaal aduthavar mel athai vidamatten” (“Tamil is akin to my breath too, but I will not exhale it on others”).
Born as Ranganathan in Tiruvinthaloor, one of the 108 Vaishnavite shrines, in Mayiladuthurai, Gnanakoothan’s mother tongue was Kannada. He strongly believed that it was modern verse that would reflect contemporary society better and pave the way for creation of new words in the language. Gnanakoothan, who published seven volumes of poetry, would say free verse allowed experimentation with words and one should not be constrained by considerations of metre.
“He had a strong influence on my earlier works. His verses had elements of classicism and few could match his humour and satire on contemporary life,” said poet Kalapriya.
If his poem ‘Kalavizhuvamithi’ ridiculed the platform speakers of the Dravidian parties, ‘Ammavin Poigal’ (Mother’s Lies) targeted the government. In this poem, he would wonder whether his mother, who used to tell lies to rein in him, stopped telling them as he grew older and because the job of lying to adults was left to the government.
His poem Odippona Venpura is an allegory of human nature. A pigeon kept by human beings could mingle temporarily with a flock of the rock pigeon nesting on temple towers, but would finally return to his master.
“His poems are a continuation of a long classical Tamil literary tradition. Like Jayakanthan, he also toned down his criticism of the Dravidian movement in later life. He shared the dais with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi for the release of my poetry collection and wrote the preface for one of Kanimozhi’s poetry collections,” said Ilayabharathi, another poet.
“It is a shame that he was not given the Sahitya Akademi award,” he said.
Gnanakoothan had also worked with Kachadathapara, a literary journal, and edited Kavanam and Zha, two other magazines.
